It's well documented that state appropriations for public colleges and universities have flattened or fallen since the early 2000s, especially when viewed against significant increases in enrollments at the institutions over that time. It is similarly understood that enrollments of out-of-state students have burgeoned over that time period. But are the two trends related?
A new study published in the journal Research in Higher Education asserts that they are. The research, by professors at the University of Arizona and the University of Missouri at Columbia, examines the relationship between funding for higher education in U.S. states and the levels of nonresident enrollment at public institutions between 2002-3 and 2012-13.
It finds that a 10 percent decline in a state's financial support was associated with a 2.7 percent increase in out-of-state enrollment at its public institutions. The relationship was even greater at public research universities (4.6 percent) and at research-extensive institutions (5 percent).
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/28/study-finds-link-between-cuts-state-budgets-and-out-state-enrollment